THE only first-person account ever written about the formation of Rangers in 1872 has been unearthed after lying undiscovered for 76 years – and it reveals the founding fathers considered naming the Glasgow club Rovers.
David Mason, the Rangers historian, this week launched his new official biography of the Ibrox institution, The Rangers Story: 150 Years Of A Remarkable Football Club, as part of the sesquicentennial anniversary celebrations.
During the course of his research for the book, Mason came into possession of a short hand-written autobiography penned by a Scottish man called James Hill in Canada before he died in 1946.
Hill had grown up in Glasgow in the 1860s and 1870s and had been present at Fleshers Haugh on Glasgow Green when the club formed by Moses McNeill, Peter McNeill, Peter Campbell and William McBeath played their first games.
Hill – who was the younger brother of the eminent early Rangers player and Scotland internationalist David, who is pictured in the iconic photograph of the 1877 Scottish Cup final team, and who also played in some first team games himself – emigrated to Canada in 1882.
However, he wrote his memoirs before he passed away aged 86. In them, he recalls how members of the Argyle Cricket Club joined in games of football with the McNeill brothers, Campbell and McBeath and helped to establish the new club.
He also confirms the colours worn by the first side were light blue and reveals the name Rovers was considered when Rangers were constituted in 1873.
Hill’s granddaughter Meryle Nerland travelled to Scotland back in the 1990s and passed on the manuscript to the then Rangers commercial director Bob Reilly during a visit to Ibrox.
Mason discovered the document when he was writing The Rangers Story and contacted Hill’s great-granddaughter Sonya Savage, a prominent Canadian politician who has served as the Minister of Justice as well as the Solicitor General for Alberta, to request permission to use it.
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“There have been various accounts of Rangers’ formation over the years,” he said. “One was written by William Dunlop, who played in the 1877 team. He wrote quite an authoritative account about the formation. But he wasn’t there. He was just talking about what he had been told. It was second-hand information.
“Moses McNeill did a piece in the Evening Times in 1935. But that was written by John Allan, who produced Rangers’ first history. It was closely aligned to that book and we know there were some errors in it.
“Apart from that, nothing has ever emanated from someone who was actually there at the time Rangers were formed. That is the beauty of the Hill account. This is an account from someone who was integral to the formation of Rangers. It isn’t anecdotal information.
“Nobody until now has ever shown the association of cricket in the formation of the club. It aligns with what was happening in football at that time. It also shows they played in light blue. There has been some debate about whether they played in light blue or royal blue.
“It also shows they considered the name Rovers. They played under different guises early on. They operated under the name Western for a time, they were also called Argyle.
“But in 1873 when they were constituted they finally decided on the name Rangers. There were various suggestions put around. Rovers was one of them, but they decided on Rangers.
“The reason was that Moses McNeill saw the name Rangers in an English rugby football annual. He felt it was an apt name because they were mainly boys from out of town so they were strangers.
“Hill’s autobiographical account had remained lost in family archives until a chance encounter I had with his descendants a few years ago. It is fascinating on a number of levels.
“It highlights the emerging popularity of football at the expense of the summer game of cricket. It also provides some context to the development of the club. But it is the role of the Argyle cricketers that is intriguing.”
Hill wrote: “He (David) excelled in cricket, was a good bowler, and was a leader in the Argyle Cricket Club, which played on Saturday afternoons on Glasgow Green with other boys who attended St James Parish School. That would be about 1870 to 1873.
“About that time, the Rangers made a start. Some youths from the Gareloch used to meet and kick a football on the Saturday afternoon. It was not long until the boys of Argyle CC got interested and discarded the cricket and joined in playing football.
“They used to pick sides and have good games. It ended by their amalgamating into a club and calling it the Rangers, with light blue sweaters and white pants (knickers).
“If I remember, there were other names proposed. Rovers I think was the other name, but Rangers carried and it certainly has been a great club in Scotland, playing association football.”
He continued: “They were playing in Glasgow Green and there was quite a competition to get the playing ground near the shrubbery on the Fleshers Haugh.
“As I was attending school, and had a holiday on Saturday, I sometimes got the Rangers goal posts in position on that pitch. As I grew older, I got playing if they were short a man and in time I was a recognised player in the 2nd eleven. I occasionally filled a place in the 1st eleven but my coming to Canada put a stop to my football career.
“Davie played with the 1st eleven from its beginning and although he was the youngest player in the team, he done so well. He was picked by the Football Association to play against England in 1882. They done well that year as they beat England 6-2, if I remember alright, in the Oval, London. He also played against Wales and Ireland.
“He generally got the credit of being the originator of the passing game. In association football, as most players at that time (were) inclined to hang on to the ball until they lost it.”
Mason said: “Hill’s account is really important information. His granddaughter has passed away. But I contacted the family and received permission to use the memoirs.
“His great-grandaughter Sonya Savage sent me an email stating she had no objections and congratulating Rangers on reaching ‘the great milestone of 150 years’.”
The Rangers Story: 150 Years Of A Remarkable Football Club by David Mason is published by Pitch Publishing and costs £40.
I knew we played games under the name of Argyle and Western in the very early days but I didn't know we could have been called Rovers . Fascinating bit of history here
Dignified silence was fine years ago, when referees made genuine mistakes, however when a referee is blatantly being a cheating bastard then we are right to express our concerns.
That ugly fuck Doncaster just on STV sport saying there is no room to move any games yet we could still be playing, I hope it snows like fuck after the break and all games get called off to show up how incompetent the cunt is, can't stand the cod faced corrupt bastard.
I know he’s a cunt .But Tom English said something very very true a few years back when they stepped up their campaign against refs .He said the taigs didn’t want the right decisions,they wanted ALL the decisions.Meaning happily taking the 50/50s that went their way but ripping the 50/50s that went against them ..
In out first couple of years back in the top league in almost every game we played against them not one 50/50 call went our way until we were a couple of goals down .
Only after being contacted by multiple Rangers fans, and after blocking many Rangers fans this is all they can come up with.
Not even condemning the posts. They've also turned off their comments.
They don't care. They're not fit for purpose. A joke organisation.
The two things that come to mind are these:
1. How can any normal family man, (not the Neanderthal fringe but a non-criminal, functioning, contributing member of society with job, mortgage, car loan etc), who presumably loves his wife and kids, continue to follow (and therefore condone) decades of abuse of children who could easily live next door to him or in the next street? That is the one aspect of this I have never understood. They lavish presents on their kids at Christmas and, deep down, they act like regular, loving, caring parents but, not only do they have no difficulty in turning a blind eye to the atrocities, they actually defend that terrible club and shout down those who speak out for the victims. How do they know that the wee boy who their son has invited over to kick the ball around the garden is not the latest victim?
2. Secondly, what the fuck are the footballing authorities in this country thinking about? In any other sport, in any other country, a club would be suspended pending a FULL investigation. The irony is that the SFA stated that they would wait until the court cases ended. But there are so many, who knows when they will end? The effect of this approach is that the club is effectively shielded because of the huge number of offences, perverts and victims! Utterly insane.
It all points to a shit-scared media, a weak and/or subservient parent body and too many defenders in too many high places protecting their team.
I truly wonder if that club will ever pay, not just for the initial crimes and lives ruined or lost, but also for the cynical, chilling, expertly executed decades of denial and defiance.
If there was a shred of justice, the place would be closed down and bulldozed with a memorial garden in its place.
Was always the right call. Not necessarily an easy one to give, but clearly correct. Probably controversial, but I think Walsh is the best referee in the country now tbh. Clearly not saying much, but there you go.
Course he is free to play us.
They have to get him playing against us so they can change the narrative and hit out with headlines like rangers fans abuse Griffiths.
Despite him getting it from every other support in the country.
Surprise, surprise...............
FLARE UP
Leigh Griffiths facing five-game ban for booting smoke bomb at St Johnstone fans but is free to face Rangers
Hampden compliance officer Andrew Phillips is still studying images and reports on the incident during the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final.
Studying images????
GTF it should be taking the CO 10 seconds to decide to hammer this fuckwit, any longer and he's not fit for purpose
Hope they keep Ange and the horrific away form continues for years to come.
a slow death for them would be great. No one deserves some reality and humility more than those Cunts.
JohnHardie reacted to MisterC in How we could have been Glasgow Rovers....
